Yosemite aims for fire-safe weekend

On a loop hike from Yosemite Valley, you can get this view of 7,076-foot Liberty Cap, the little-seen south flank of 8,842-foot Half Dome and it shoulder, and below to 594-foot Nevada Fall.

On a loop hike from Yosemite Valley, you can get this view of 7,076-foot Liberty Cap, the little-seen south flank of 8,842-foot Half Dome and it shoulder, and below to 594-foot Nevada Fall.

Photo: Tom Stienstra / Tom Stienstra / The Chronicle

Photo: Tom Stienstra / Tom Stienstra / The Chronicle

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On a loop hike from Yosemite Valley, you can get this view of 7,076-foot Liberty Cap, the little-seen south flank of 8,842-foot Half Dome and it shoulder, and below to 594-foot Nevada Fall.

On a loop hike from Yosemite Valley, you can get this view of 7,076-foot Liberty Cap, the little-seen south flank of 8,842-foot Half Dome and it shoulder, and below to 594-foot Nevada Fall.

Photo: Tom Stienstra / Tom Stienstra / The Chronicle

Yosemite aims for fire-safe weekend

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In Yosemite, at a trail lunch near Emerald Pool above Vernal Fall, my wife and I ran into a group from Germany who lit up cigarettes. They had no idea that a smoking ban was in effect. Lighting up a cigarette after lunch was just something they always do.

This is critical in Yosemite, which gets thousands of visitors from Europe, roughly 25% in summer (and higher in early fall), where the percentage of smokers is roughly double that in the U.S., 29% to 15%.

On the eve of Labor Day Weekend, vacationers will find crystal air clarity, few forest fires, ideal temperatures and full lakes in the high country. To keep it that way, Yosemite National Park ordered new restrictions over the weekend on campfires and smoking, similar to those at most state parks and national forests.

For the most part, campfires are restricted to developed campgrounds with fire rings. The order also bans smoking below 6,000 feet. The exceptions are in an enclosed vehicle or in a designated campground, such as sitting next to a fire ring.

Outdoors

Crystal air clarity: Most of the state has pristine air, the opposite of last year’s Summer of Smoke. One exception is the south of Mono Lake in the Eastern Sierra along U.S. 395, where the Springs Fire is 43% contained.

Few forest fires: Outside of the Springs Fire, only a handful of small or contained fires are burning. As the weekend started, only 51,079 acres had burned in California for the season, about 5% of the total from this time last year, when a record 1.89 million acres burned for the season.

Ideal temperatures: For the weekend (after a siege of hot weather Tuesday), temperatures are forecast for the high 80s for Yosemite Valley and low 80s for South Lake Tahoe (with overnight lows in the low 40s).

Full lakes: Recreation lakes are reaping the rewards from last year’s big snowpack. The best example is near Tahoe, where Stampede is 96 percent full, Independence is 95, Donner is 89, and all the small lakes in the national forest are filled to the brim.